Vacation 2015 - Day 9: Pisa

It has been a while since I last posted pictures from our caping vacation in Italy last summer, but now I am slowly getting the hang of blogging, again so I shall make updates about it now and then, when I do not have something more important to write about.

We decided to make a daytrip to Pisa, particularly to see the Leaning Tower, as my daughters had beeb talking about it before the holidays.

We had to cross the Po Valley and the Apennine Mountains to get to Tuscany, and we got delayed in the mountains because a lorry had had anb accident on the motorway.

But, we endured, and were rewarded with the sight of the Tuscan landscape.

Well arrived, car parked, we were met by the wall enclosing Piazza del Duomo - and the usual motley crew of vendors.

View of the Cathedral of Pisa and the Leaning Tower througn the gate in the wall

In the foreground, the Babtistery of St. John.

Proof that my family was there.
It is forbidden to walk on the grass, by the way...

Front of the Cathedral

Lots of gold foil on that ceiling!

Couldn't help thinking of the throne room in Minas Tirith

The next series of photos are form our visit to the Leaning Tower - the clou to this trip

Going up!

The home of AC Pisa 1909 in the background

I think this is Opera della Primaziale Pisana

Some very worn marble

Another view of the stadion, this time from the top of thetower

Via Roma - I think

 The mandatory 'funny' pictures:

Did I mention the grass...?

Not funny at all, just the full tower

I bought that hat from one of the vendors in front of the wall.

This concludes the tale of our foray into Tuscany. We returned to the camping site quite late in the evening, and had to leave the car in a parking lot outside (it turned out that we could have just asked to get let in), and I think we all slept very well that night, despite the very hot weather.

Cheap 'Grass'

Just the other day, as i was browsing through a 'Tiger' (Danish equivalent of a Pound-Store), I came across a pile of this.

At DKK 30, I had to buy one for the purpose of investigating its potential for some kind of gaming use.

The mat is 25cm x 100 cm, so we are talking a serious amount of artificial grass, here.

Below I put a 28mm Viking on it to visualize the size. The 'grass' is not very long, maybe abot 1 cm, but it may be possible to cut individual 'tufts' from the mat (the base is fairly thick black rubber) which can then be used on various terrain pieces, and possibly large bases.

Blood Eagle: Status Report

Right now I am at work (night watch), and do not have access to my camera to back this post with a Picture, but I managed to get the vikings (plus a WGF Zulu War Brit infantryman) primed, before we went to a restaurant for dinner (wife's birthday).

Here in Denmark, we have a short Holiday Friday-Sunday, so the next three days I shall probably spend most time with my Family, but I may get to squeeze in a bit of base-coating.


Well, maybe...

Blood Eagle: First Warband at Full Strength!

As promised, the entire warband in all its unpainted plastic glory.

I hope to manage priming these guys tomorrow afternoon, but as I shall be at work tonight, and hence be sleeping tomorrow, I don't know if I shall have time for it.

Blood Eagle: Ivar, the Last Viking

Ivar is now built and up to speed with the rest of the warband.

Body, arms, head, and quiver are from the Medieval Archer set, and the hand with the axe from the Gripping Beas Viking Hirdmen set.

He brings the warband roster up to a full basic 200 pts, 6 figures, which is a manageable number to get ready for the table within a foreseeable time.

The conquest heads seem to have some cloth around the neck (which really ought not be there, given the sculpt of the torsos), but I guess I shall paint it up as the unbleached linen of the særk (under-tunic).

Below you will find a couple more pictures of Ivar from different angles.

As you can see, the archers have the (for Vikings historically correct) sword 'baldric' - but no swords or other sidearms to put there.

I guess, I could have placed the axe there, and sculpted a loop/sheath for it, but I opted for the 'in hand' solution this time.

Another detail on these is, most of them have a short, half-sleved 'over tunic' that can be painted as the in Blood Eagle ever present 'leather byrnie' (læderbrynje), which is another reason why I was keen on getting the Medieval Archers set.

I shall probably construct some warriors with hand weapon/shield from some of these bodies in the future. The bows can be used on other models, like the un-armoured Dark Age Warriors, or even on some mail-clad Viking Hirdmen models.

The set contains both short and long bows in sufficient numbers for all the models, so a LOT of bowmen can be constructed, using models from other sets!

Ivar has the following stats:

Fate 4+, FV +2, SV +2, Speed +0, Pagan

Læderbrynje + Let Hjælm, jagtbue, økse

In the meantime, I have put the second helping of filler on the bases of the entire warband, and they should be ready for primer tomorrow, when I get up after sleeping (I work night watch tonight).

I shall post a line-up of the entire warband later this evening, so stay tuned!

Blood Eagle: Renedra Wattle Fences

Also with my Renedra order: Waddle fences. I think I have just about everything needed for making a small homestead to act as target for my raiders.

The two buildings will constitute the core of the farm, and I can then make a pig pen, a dung heap, and some fields (and base some more fences), and I shall be good to go.